Consuming Pecans as a Snack Improves Lipids/Lipoproteins and Diet Quality Compared to Usual Diet in Adults at Increased Risk for Cardiometabolic Diseases: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: The vascular and cardiometabolic effects of pecans are relatively under-studied.

Objectives: The aim was to examine how substitution of usual snack foods with 57 g/day of pecans affects vascular health, risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases and diet quality, compared to continuing usual intake in individuals at risk for cardiometabolic diseases.

Methods: A 12-week single-blinded, parallel, randomized controlled trial was conducted.

Advancing Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment: Integrating Molecular Biomarkers and Emerging Technologies.

Cancer biomarkers can be derived from tumor cells or neighboring cells within the tumor microenvironment. Over the past few decades, various molecular markers, including DNA (mutations, copy number variations), RNA (mRNA, microRNA, circular RNA), proteins, and metabolites, have been identified with the aid of rapidly evolving technologies. Some of these markers have demonstrated potential clinical utility, while others have provided new insights into the deregulation of normal molecular and cellular processes that lead to tumorigenesis.

What apps and websites do those in treatment for substance-related problems use to help them in their recovery? A cross-sectional study of products and use patterns.

Background: Given the global burden of substance use disorders (SUD), innovations in methods to achieve sustained recovery are critical. Digital health products (e.g.

Comparison between Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition criteria and protein-energy wasting in patients with kidney failure undergoing peritoneal dialysis.

Background: Protein-energy wasting (PEW) is the chronic kidney disease (CKD)-specific diagnosis encompassing malnutrition. PEW is associated with adverse outcomes, including those receiving peritoneal dialysis (PD). Identifying PEW requires accurate methods to improve diagnosis.

Bleeding Risk Assessment with Thromboelastography in Interventional Pulmonology Procedures.

Objective: Thromboelastography (TEG) offers a point-of-care and comprehensive evaluation of the coagulation cascade, but its utility in predicting bleeding risk in Interventional Pulmonology (IP) procedures has not been thoroughly investigated. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of TEG in assessing bleeding risk in patients undergoing elective IP procedures.

Material And Methods: Retrospective study of patients who underwent elective IP procedures at Mayo Clinic (Jacksonville, FL, USA) from November 2022 to May 2024.

Outcomes of Anesthesia-Supported versus Endoscopist-Driven Sedation Modalities: A retrospective cohort study.

Background And Aims: Anesthesia involvement has become commonplace in many procedural settings. The goal of this study is to compare sedation modalities utilized by endoscopists and anesthesiologists in the endoscopy suite, particularly with respect to recovery time and adverse events.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study including adults (≥18) undergoing outpatient EGD and/or colonoscopy at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida between October 1, 2018 through December 31, 2022.

Changes in Out-of-Pocket Drug Expenditures Among Medicare Beneficiaries with Dementia Under the Inflation Reduction Act: A Simulation Study.

Objectives: We investigated how the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Medicare Part D benefit redesign may reduce out-of-pocket (OOP) drug expenditures for Medicare beneficiaries with dementia. Methods Design Utilizing data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked with Medicare claims, we simulated post-redesign OOP drug spending by applying the 2025 prescription drug cost-sharing rules to each beneficiary's pre-redesign Part D medication utilization data for 2016, adjusting for inflation. Participants Our study population comprised HRS respondents aged 65 and older in 2016, enrolled in Medicare fee-for-service, with at least one Part D drug claim in 2016, and diagnosed with dementia between 2000 and 2016 (n=1,677).

Dietary carbohydrate quality is associated with epigenetic age acceleration: a cross-sectional study of the CARDIA cohort.

Background: Dietary intake is one lifestyle factor that is expected to impact gene expression by altering DNA methylation (DNAm), thus affecting epigenetic aging. Studies on the association between quality of carbohydrates and epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) are scarce despite the evidence that quality may be more important than amount of carbohydrates consumed.

Objective: We aimed to identify the cross-sectional associations of carbohydrate quality and fiber-rich food score with epigenetic age acceleration in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study.

Cardioesophageal Reflex. Should it trigger clinician's response?

Cardiologists and gastroenterologists often encounter the coexistence of symptoms and functional abnormalities, but determining causation is more difficult.​​ In 1962 Smith and Papp first coined the term "linked angina". Their statement was preceded by the experiment whereby increase in bile duct pressure elicited the typical chest pain in patients with ischemic heart disease.

Endothelial Growth Media Components Alters SARS-CoV-2 Spike-Directed Growth Kinetics.

Direct SARS-CoV-2 infection of endothelial cells is challenging to study in vitro. To examine whether endothelial cell culture conditions impact the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to infect cells, we evaluated the effects of commercial cell culture media composition on SARS-CoV-2 Spike-directed viral infection. In African Green Monkey kidney epithelial cells (VeroE6), we found that commercial cell culture media (EGM2) produced inhibitory effects on recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV-SARS-CoV-2) growth that is not seen in Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM).

The common murine retroviral integration site activating Hhex marks a distal regulatory enhancer co-opted in human Early T-cell precursor leukemia.

The Hhex gene encodes a transcription factor that is important for both embryonic and post-natal development, especially of hematopoietic tissues. Hhex is one of the most common sites of retroviral integration in mouse models. We found the most common integrations in AKXD (recombinant inbred strains) T-ALLs occur 57-61kb 3' of Hhex and activate Hhex gene expression.

A novel FOXM1-BCL2A1 axis determines unfavourable response to venetoclax in AML.

Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1), a Forkhead family transcription factor, is often overexpressed in a variety of human cancers, including AML and strongly associated with therapy resistance and unfavourable outcomes. In AML with NPM1 mutations NPM1/FOXM1 complex sequesters FOXM1 in the cytoplasm and confers favourable treatment outcomes for AML patients, because of FOXM1 inactivation. Inhibition of FOXM1 in AML cell lines and animal models of AML sensitizes AML cells to the Bcl2-inhibitor, venetoclax.

Autophagy activation within inflammatory microenvironment improved the therapeutic effect of MSC-Derived extracellular Vesicle in SLE.

Introduction: Developing strategies to improve the therapeutic efficacy of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) in autoimmune diseases have garnered increased attention.

Objectives: To evaluate whether rapamycin-induced autophagy within the systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) inflammatory microenvironment (Rapa-SLE) augments the therapeutic effects of MSC-derived EVs in SLE.

Methods: The therapeutic potential of the resulting EVs (Rapa-SLE-EV) was assessed in MRL/lpr mice.

Outpatient Total Knee Arthroplasty Has Become More Frequent Since the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic Without an Increase in Early Post-Operative Complications.

Introduction: Outpatient total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has quickly grown in popularity, largely driven by policy shifts and the recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The aim of this study was to compare 30-day complications between outpatient TKA (oTKA) versus inpatient TKA (iTKA) before and after the COVID-19 pandemic to elucidate the effect of the pandemic on utilization and short-term outcomes.

Methods: Patients who underwent primary TKA between 2008 and 2021 were identified through Current Procedural Terminology codes in a national database.

Website Transparency and Information Dissemination among Urology Residency Programs.

Objective: To evaluate the transparency and quality of information dissemination among urology residency program websites and provide a checklist. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, urology residency programs have had to adjust their typical practices, including the adoption of virtual recruiting. Such efforts have included improving program websites, which are often the starting point for potential applicants to obtain information about programs.

The evening complex component ELF3 recruits H3K4me3 demethylases to repress PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR4 and 5 in Arabidopsis.

In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), light and circadian clock signaling converge on PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTORS (PIFs) 4 and 5 to produce a daily rhythm of hypocotyl elongation. PIF4 and PIF5 expression is repressed at dusk by the evening complex (EC), consisting of EARLY FLOWERING3 (ELF3), ELF4, and LUX ARRHYTHMO (LUX). Here, we report that ELF3 recruits the JUMONJI (JMJ) H3K4me3 demethylases JMJ17 and JMJ18 to the PIF4 and PIF5 loci in the evening to remove their H3K4me3 marks.

Xanomeline-Trospium for Adults with Schizophrenia Experiencing Acute Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Safety and Tolerability Outcomes.

The United States Food and Drug Administration approved the xanomeline-trospium combination in September 2024 for treating schizophrenia, based in part on three double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trials in adults with schizophrenia experiencing acute psychosis. This random-effects model pairwise meta-analysis of those three trials found that xanomeline-trospium was comparable to placebo in terms of all-cause discontinuation, discontinuation rate due to adverse events, Simpson-Angus Scale score change, Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale score change, body weight change, body mass index change, blood pressure change, serum total cholesterol change, blood glucose change, QTc interval changes, and the incidence of headache, somnolence, insomnia, dizziness, akathisia, agitation, tachycardia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, diarrhea, increased weight, and decreased appetite. However, xanomeline-trospium was associated with a higher incidence of at least one adverse event, dry mouth, hypertension, nausea, vomiting, dyspepsia, and constipation, and increased serum triglyceride compared with placebo.

Latest clinical frontiers related to autism diagnostic strategies.

The diagnosis of autism is currently based on the developmental history, direct observation of behavior, and reported symptoms, supplemented by rating scales/interviews/structured observational evaluations-which is influenced by the clinician's knowledge and experience-with no established diagnostic biomarkers. A growing body of research has been conducted over the past decades to improve diagnostic accuracy. Here, we provide an overview of the current diagnostic assessment process as well as of recent and ongoing developments to support diagnosis in terms of genetic evaluation, telemedicine, digital technologies, use of machine learning/artificial intelligence, and research on candidate diagnostic biomarkers.

Gene and phenome-based analysis of the shared genetic architecture of eye diseases.

While many eye disorders are linked through defects in vascularization and optic nerve degeneration, genetic correlation studies have yielded variable results despite shared features. For example, glaucoma and myopia both share optic neuropathy as a feature, but genetic correlation studies demonstrated minimal overlap. By leveraging electronic health record (EHR) resources that contain genetic variables such as genetically predicted gene expression (GPGE), researchers have the potential to improve the identification of shared genetic drivers of disease by incorporating knowledge of shared features to identify disease-causing mechanisms.

Sequence variants in HECTD1 result in a variable neurodevelopmental disorder.

Dysregulation of genes encoding the homologous to E6AP C-terminus (HECT) E3 ubiquitin ligases has been linked to cancer and structural birth defects. One member of this family, the HECT-domain-containing protein 1 (HECTD1), mediates developmental pathways, including cell signaling, gene expression, and embryogenesis. Through GeneMatcher, we identified 14 unrelated individuals with 15 different variants in HECTD1 (10 missense, 3 frameshift, 1 nonsense, and 1 splicing variant) with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and epilepsy.

Prenatal gene editing for neurodevelopmental diseases: Ethical considerations.

Neurodevelopmental diseases (NDDs) are notoriously difficult to treat because clinical symptoms stem from developmental processes that begin before birth. Prenatal gene editing could fill the treatment gap for NDDs by targeting and permanently correcting the genetic variants that underlie these pathogenic developmental processes. At the same time, there is a risk of unintended edits to the fetus or the pregnant person that could result in serious adverse consequences that are difficult, if not impossible, to undo.

A cis-regulatory element controls expression of histone deacetylase 9 to fine-tune inflammasome-dependent chronic inflammation in atherosclerosis.

Common genetic variants in a conserved cis-regulatory element (CRE) at histone deacetylase (HDAC)9 are a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including stroke and coronary artery disease. Given the consistency of this association and its proinflammatory properties, we examined the mechanisms whereby HDAC9 regulates vascular inflammation. HDAC9 bound and mediated deacetylation of NLRP3 in the NACHT and LRR domains leading to inflammasome activation and lytic cell death.

Extracellular volume expansion drives vertebrate axis elongation.

The vertebrate bauplan is primarily established via the formation of embryonic tissues in a head-to-tail progression. The mechanics of this elongation, which requires the presomitic mesoderm (PSM), remain poorly understood. Here, we find that avian PSM explants can elongate autonomously when physically confined in vitro, producing a pushing force promoting posterior elongation of the embryo.

Phosphorus release under short-term submergence of pasture soils in critical source areas.

Critical source areas (CSAs) can act as a source of phosphorus (P) in surface waters by releasing soil P to porewater during frequent rainfall events. The extent of P release under short-term, frequent submergence has not been systematically studied in CSAs in New Zealand. A study was conducted to explore the potential of three contrasting dairy and sheep/beef farm soils (Recent, Pallic and Allophanic soils) to release P to porewater and pondwater under short-term and frequent submergence.